Golisano gives $5M to URMC for pediatric behavioral health center

Tom Golisano, philanthropist and namesake of UR Medicine’s Golisano Children’s Hospital, speaks during a news conference on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017, announcing he is donating $5 million toward a new $10 million facility to house the Childrens Behavioral Health and Wellness Center.
Wochit

Billionaire businessman and philanthropist Tom Golisano is donating $5 million to help build a new Pediatric Behavioral Health & Wellness Center, officials announced Thursday.

The new building will allow University of Rochester Medical Center to expand the unit, and be the primary outpatient location for treating children with depression, anxiety and other behavioral and emotional challenges.

"The sad reality is that mental illness still carries a stigma," Golisano said, explaining that the new center will expand services and reduce waiting lists. "It is often hidden and services fall under the radar. For far too long this type of care has not received the national attention it deserves."

The planned $10 million building is proposed near South Avenue and Science Parkway, next to the planned location of the Golisano Autism Center. Construction on both should begin in the spring. The Behavioral Health & Wellness Center should open in 2019.

“Rochester — like much of the country — has seen a serious dearth of services and providers in this area,” URMC President Mark Taubman said in a statement. “But this gift will allow us to essentially double the space that we have to care for children with emotional or behavioral needs.”

URMC reportedly has more than doubled its child psychiatry staffing numbers in recent years.

A rendering of URMC's proposed $10 million Pediatric Behavioral Health & Wellness Center to be built near South Avenue and Science Parkway.(Photo: Courtesy of Hanlon Architects)

With the new building, officials say they will be able to introduce a new "Intensive Outpatient Service Line" providing youth with "a higher level of care than traditional outpatient services, while staying home and attending their regular school."

There also are plans to expand the partial hospitalization program, serving youths ages 12 to 18 who require intensive services during the day but return home at night, and the outpatient program, serving children and adolescents with depression, anxiety, psychosis, substance abuse, ADHD, PTSD, Autism Spectrum Disorder, and other conditions.